The latest members of the AA elite

Car accidents may be business as usual but collisions of ego are better for publicity, as the managing director of the Automobile Association, Roger Wood, discovered earlier this year when he intervened to deprive Gordon Ramsay's Pétrus of a coveted five-rosettes award. It meant he succeeded in spotlighting AA services other than coming to the rescue of distressed motorists and lobbying for mobile phone use in cars. Like the better-known Michelin Guide, the AA too publishes a restaurant guide.

The unfortunate spare part in all this was its highly respected editor, Simon Wright. He was left with little alternative but to do the decent thing and fall on his knife and fork. Since then, with the publication at the end of the month of the 2003 edition of the AA guide, his decision has been upheld and Pétrus has been awarded five rosettes after all. The restaurant in St James's Street, London, where one party ran up a wine bill of £44,000 last year, is also one of 47 restaurants from the 1,800 throughout England, Scotland and Wales in the guide to receive an AA Wine List award, sponsored by T & W Wines.

To become one of the AA elite, restaurants have to jump three hurdles. The wine list is first sifted for quality and its ability to inspire customers to make wider and more adventurous choices. Short-listed entrants then have to answer questions aimed at testing their ability to encourage diners to take risks in their selection. Finally, they have to suggest wines to complement a menu, which this year was supplied by Heston Blumenthal, chef/owner of The Fat Duck, last year's Wine Award (England) winner. This year's winner was Chiswick's La Trompette. And deservedly so.

La Trompette's inviting, leather-bound list announces a range of classic French wines at comparatively reasonable prices, rubbing shoulders with a mouthwatering selection from Italy, Spain and the New World. There's a smattering of wines by the glass and half-bottle and the wine service by Matthieu Longuère from Bordeaux is solicitous without being overbearing. As at sister restaurants Chez Bruce, The Glasshouse and The Square, the list is selected by Nigel Platts-Martin, so it's odd that none of the other three picked up so much as a single award, considering that Chez Bruce's shorter list is one of London's best.

A number of the UK's other great restaurant wine lists, among them Ransome's Dock, RSJ, The White Horse at Chilgrove, Orrery and Pied à Terre, are also conspicuous by their absence. Which goes to show that choosing a best wine list is always going to be highly subjective. For its Perfect Wine List in the UK competition, Harpers On-Trade, the wine trade magazine, included just two of the 47 restaurants chosen by the AA guide in its shortlist: The Old Bridge at Huntingdon and Sharrow Bay in Cumbria.

Despite the omissions, it is heartening to see the AA's award for a restaurant group go to the Hotel du Vin company, with restaurants in Winchester, Tunbridge Wells and Birmingham each winning their own wine award. The group's Gérard Basset has inspired a new breed of wine waiter who understands that most customers don't want to have to look up a sommelier's nostrils. His lists don't brag with fancy names and mark-ups to match, but confidently assert their affinity with the food, backing them up with the enthusiasm and friendly service of a well-trained staff.

'The AA Restaurant Guide 2003', £15.99, is published on 30 September by AA Publications